COVID-19 Update

VO is recruiting and deploying volunteers to respond to the volunteer needs specific to COVID-19 in Ottawa, Prescott-Russell, Lanark County and Renfrew County while ensuring proper screening and training protocals to safeguard the health of those volunteering and those they are assisting. Please see the intake portals for volunteers, for members, and for other agencies on our hompage. VO gratefully acknowledges the financial support of United Way East Ontario, the City of Ottawa and the Ottawa Community Foundation.

Our vision for The Door is one of a welcoming place where young people aged 12-18 acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors to become independent adults capable of realizing their full potential and participating actively in their communities. Our mission is to provide integrated social and developmental activities to youth members within an accessible, safe, and supportive environment.

The programs of The Door are founded on voluntary participation in activities structured to maximize the opportunity for young people to engage in terms of their unique development capacities and needs. Every program operates within a framework designed to:

• Strengthen personal knowledge and skills and the promotion of healthy behaviors and lifestyles.
• Develop interpersonal skills and practices of understanding, tolerance and inclusion.
• Contribute to a sense of civic responsibility and engagement in community.

Who We Are

The Door was modeled after The Door New York, a youth centre located in the heart of New York City. When it first opened The Door took a holistic approach to the services offered and initially provided a broad range of services from recreation to legal and medical services.

Art Stinson, the former head of the School of Social Work at Carleton University felt that there was a need to offer a place for youth to interact with other young people, to make new friends and to access services. It was this vision that led to opening of The Door in May 1994.

The centre has since evolved and become more focused in its work: it is primarily a place for youth to access educational and employment support, health promotion and recreational programs and to establish links to other youth-oriented programs and services throughout the community. Most important, it is a place where youth can feel good about themselves and their place in the community!

The Door is the only youth centre in the Somerset West area, thus fulfilling a need that is otherwise unmet. The youth come from a variety of backgrounds: some come from a stable home environment and are just looking for a place to hang out with friends. Others are among the high risk youth with no other place to go.

The young people come from a variety of cultures: Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian, Persian, Somali, Arab, Ethiopian, Italian, Russian, Haitian, and Canadian.

Each youth is expected to contribute and help out in some small way at the centre, whether it’s taking out the garbage, cooking dinner, working the front desk, basketball court, and/or participating in the decisions about how The Door operates on a day-to-day basis. This ensures that The Door is truly a facility of and for young people.